On December 2, 1980, four churchwomen—Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Donovan—became victims of escalating violence toward church members who sided with the poor in El Salvador.

Written by Stephanie M. Huezo. Narration by Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Textual and video version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/murdered-churchwomen-el-salvador.

The Murdered Churchwomen in El Salvador

The decade of war and revolution between 1914 and 1924 is critical for understanding both Russian and Ukrainian statehood up to the present day. 

Written by Joshua A. Sanborn. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/ukraine-war-and-revolution.
This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Ukraine in War and Revolution

When Ukrainian troops liberated the town of Borodyanka from Russian occupation in early April, 2022 they discovered the damage done to its Taras Shevchenko monument. Bullets had hit the great poet’s forehead. The pillar holding him up had been damaged by shells.

The symbolism of the Russian attack on the monument was obvious. Taras Shevchenko is not just the founder of the modern Ukrainian literary language, he is also the most important symbol of modern Ukrainian nationhood.

Written by Stephen M. Norris. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/taras-shevchenko-poet-ukraine

Taras Shevchenko, Poet of Ukraine

December 16, 1971 marked the end of the Bangladesh Liberation War, a short-lived conflict between India and Pakistan that established the People’s Republic of Bangladesh from the territory of the former province of East Pakistan.

Written by Eric A. Strahorn. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/bangladesh-liberation-war.

Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.  

Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

The Bangladesh Liberation War

Süleyman, who would be known to the west as “the Magnificent,” began his reign as sultan of the Ottoman Empire in September 1520.

Written by Colin Jude Murtha. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/suleyman-suleiman-the-magnificent-ottoman-empire

Süleyman the Magnificent

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone to extraordinary lengths to commemorate the Second World War. Even though the war ended over 77 years ago, Putin has made World War II memory central to contemporary Russian national identity.

This talk will explore how war remembrance serves Putin’s interests, including with regard to his war in Ukraine.

Panelists:

David L. Hoffmann, College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor, Department of History, The Ohio State University

Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, The Ohio State University

This talk is a presentation by the Clio Society in the Ohio State University Department of History.

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://origins.osu.edu/index.php/listen/history-talk/world-war-ii-memory-putins-russia

World War II Memory in Putin's Russia

In the Year of Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo negotiated independence from Belgium to the rhythm of the country’s greatest export: Congolese rumba. The wildly popular and meaningful genre became a soundtrack to global change.

Written by Emily Hardick. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.  Production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and text versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/article/year-of-africa-1960-rumba-pan-africanism-Kariba.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Additional Resources:

Elkins, Caroline. Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya. Toronto: CNIB, 2008.

Fanon, Frantz. Toward the African Revolution: Political Essays. New York: Grove, 1952.

Lee, Christopher J. Making a World after Empire: The Bandung Moment and Its Political Afterlives. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010.

Monson, Jamie. Africa's Freedom Railway: How a Chinese Development Project Changed Lives and Livelihoods in Tanzania. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.

Phiri, Kings M. Malawi in Crisis: the 1959/60 Nyasaland State of Emergency and Its Legacy. Zomba, Malawi: Kachere, 2012.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. Colonialism and Neocolonialism. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 1964.

Tischler, Julia. Light and Power for a Multiracial Nation: the Kariba Dam Scheme in the Central African Federation. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Collinet, Georges. “Hidden Meanings in Congo Music.” Afropop Worldwide, December 21, 2011. https://afropop.org/audio-programs/hidden-meanings-in-congo-music.

Gondola, Didier. The History of Congo. Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 2002.

Kazadi, Pierre Cary (Kazadi wa Mukuna). “The Genesis of Urban Music in Zaïre.” African Music 7, no. 2 (1992): 72–84.

Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. Patrice Lumumba. First edition. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2014.

White, Bob W. Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutu’s Zaire. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2008.

Iwa Dworkin, Congo Love Song: African American Culture and the Crisis of the Colonial State (University of North Carolina Press, 2017)

Kevin K. Gaines, American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and The Civil Rights Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2006)

James Meriwether, Proudly We Can Be Africans: Black Americans and Africa, 1935-1961 (University of North Carolina Press, 2002)

Congolese Rumba: Soundtrack to African Political Struggle

From Donald Trump’s Access Hollywood tapes to the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, sexual harassment and sexual violence seem to have suddenly burst into the news cycle. Nearly every day, new allegations against powerful men emerge as more women come forward. But, while many are heralding the rise of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements as an opportunity for change, many of those who are raising awareness about these issues today have protested them in the past. So what’s different now? And how does contemporary activism fit into the longer history of awareness? On this episode of History Talk, hosts Jessica Viñas-Nelson and Brenna Miller invite three experts—Professors Treva Lindsey, Kimberly Hamlin, and Martha Chamallas—to discuss the social and legal histories of sexual assault and harassment in the US, past movements to fight it, and how the conversations going on today fit into the broader story of gender and sexual equality.

Guests: 
Dr. Kimberly Hamlin - Miami University in Ohio specializing in gender, women, and science in the United States. 

Dr. Martha Chamallas - Professor at the Moritz College of law at Ohio State University and a leading scholar on torts, employment discrimination law, and legal issues affecting women. 

Dr. Treva Lindsey - Specialist in African American women’s history, black popular and expressive culture, black feminisms, critical race and gender theory, and sexual politics at The Ohio State University’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department.

An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/historytalk/long-history-metoo

The Long History of #MeToo

With the release of Marvel's "Black Panther" film, historian Thomas F. McDow explores the real historical origins of the fictional country of Wakanda and its roots in a Cold War crisis and an African mine.

An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/searching-wakanda-african-roots-black-panther-story

Searching for Wakanda: The African Roots of the Black Panther Story

Welcome to Prologued! Prologued is a publication of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective. Origins, a joint venture between the Ohio State University and Miami University History Departments, and hosted by Origins historian, Sarah Paxton. 

Prologued is a serial podcast from Origins that performs in depth discussions of historical roots that have been lost, ignored, or misconstrued, resulting in modern society being confused by the current course of events. With the help of esteemed scholars, each season will re-construct the history of a major issue society is facing, in an effort to not only explain how we got here, but to reveal a path forward. 

Season 1 will analyze the myth of the women's voting bloc. Now, as we wade through the 2020 election cycle and celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment granting American women the right to vote, it is the perfect time to re-evaluate the political and electoral history of women in the United States beginning all the way back with the American Revolution. Join us as we reveal critical conflicts between women's organizations, triumphs and set backs, the women who were left behind, and what modern political processes can learn from the past. 

Season 1 premieres August 11, 2020 and will air on Tuesdays through September. 

Host:
Sarah Paxton

Connect with us!
Twitter: @ProloguedPod and @OriginsOSU
Instagram: @OriginsOSU
Facebook: @OriginsOSU
Website: origins.osu.edu
Email: Origins@osu.edu

History Talk Presents Prologued: Season 1 Trailer

Smart conversations about today’s most interesting topics - a history podcast for everyone, produced by Origins from Ohio State's Department of History

Congolese Rumba: Soundtrack to African Political Struggle

History Talk from Origins

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